Mac OS X forum: Snow Leopard won't install

I have bought the family license Snow Leopard and it installed OK on my iMac but i have tried at least ten times to upgrade my MacBook but it installs for 6 mins then reboots and am back to square one. It just won't install any further. Any ideas?

No I did not format my hard drive since SL is really an update to Leopard and is supposed to do number of "good things" to it!My first impression was that the install disk was corrupt but since it installed on my iMac that was not the problem. However I also took it along with my Macbook to the computer store and discovered two things 1. the disk is OK 2. My disk drive is faulty only after 18 months and the years guarantee has run out! I then bought an external disk drive for 105 as opposed to repairing the built in drive for 350! I'm pretty pissed off at Apple that a disk drive does not have a longer life than just over a year!

I'm still no further with the installation and am going back to the Apple shop for help! I'l keept you posted.

From my experience, hard disk drive life can vary. Most promise hundreds of thousands of hours, but engineers calculate it as a "mean time between failures" -- some will last longer than others. Be glad yours failed when you could replace it, rather than the horror stories I've read about where the drive decides to die in the middle of some important project and there's no backup.

I wouldn't recommend using an external drive as your main, start up, except in an emergency. Keep the new one for backup or extra storage and replace the one in the case -- you'll also get faster data transfer rates. Yes, 350 seems a little steep for a replacement drive. I've installed drives in my Mac Pro and G4 myself or as little as US$80 (no VAT in the States) for 500GB. In the Mac Pro it's just a couple of screws and it plugs in. Some where there are video tutorials to help you do it your self.

Sorry you seem to have been misled.... my CD/DVD drive failed not my hard disk! I have been using an external CD drive to install the update but five minutes into the install it just reboots the laptop and am back to square one! My hard disk is OK.

The cost of installing a CD drive in the MacBook was quoted as 350. How easy is it to install one oneself? Cheers

You can install a drive in MacBook. Here's a site with a video tutorial:http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/superdrive/MacBook_13 If this isn't your model, there are other videos that you can search. As you can see a new drive is US$147.00, but I don't think this vendor will ship overseas -- all the custom fees and taxes. Better to buy locally, but you have the option.

Thanks for that info. It seems that Apple shops seem to think that Macs are so exclusive that they can charge a premium for any replacement parts and labour. Also the Euro at the current exchange rate makes the dollar cheap which means the price of US$147 equates to 99 - Cheap! Obviously these guys have no competition and are a rip off! Thank goodness for networks like this and guys like you who can point people like me in the right direction.

...and no joy yet with S.N. In fact I'm not finding SN all that it is cracked up to be. I'm finding all sorts of little issues on my iMac! I'll let you know how it goes in a couple of days.

Your problems are unusual and like a hard drive that fails after only a few months use, statistically rare -- except when it happens to you. It's like winning the lottery, but without the prize. You can try the Apple web site for trouble shooting help and here're links to US sites that you can search for help:

You could also Google your problem. There must be similar sites in the EU.

Searching for your specific problem can be frustrating and time consuming and may not yield the information you need.

With your continued problem installing SL: there could be a hardware issue with your computer. I had an iBook that went back to Apple four times for various repairs. I'm glad I bought Apple Care -- I paid nothing, not even shipping, and the turn around was only a week for each incident; but that was to a repair facility in Tennessee. It was still a hassle. From your experience it sounds like there's nothing like it in the EU.

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